


My Dinner With Emma

by Brawl2099



Category: Avengers (Comics), Black Panther (Comics), Emma Frost (Comics), Iron Man (Comics), X-23 (Comic), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 19:45:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17189222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brawl2099/pseuds/Brawl2099
Summary: Tony Stark invites Emma Frost to dinner. Things get interesting from there.





	My Dinner With Emma

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teaberryblue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaberryblue/gifts).



My Dinner with Emma

By Tony Thornley

 

She pulled a chair from the table and sat. Her companion, already halfway through a small loaf of bread and bottle of sparkling Catawba, simply looked up and smiled. His expression was a mix of confidence and pride. Her presence was a small victory to him and she hated that. She suppressed to urge to roll her eyes. 

“Tony, darling,” she said,  “smug is not a good look on you.”

“You would be an expert on that Emma,” Tony Stark replied. He took a sip and waved to the waiter with his free hand. This time, Emma Frost rolled her eyes. 

“Please, we're equals,” she said, “let's not spend the evening belittling one another.”

“You-” He paused, reconsidered his next words, and nodded. “-couldn't be more correct. Do you like the place?”

She glanced around and nodded. The small Cafe was nearly perfect in every way. It was one of her favorites in Paris, the sort of place where you'd buy a baguette and soft cheese and spend the morning watching the people strolling by outside the window. She had done exactly that nearly every time she visited, though sometimes she had purchased croissant instead of baguette. 

The attached restaurant was one of the best she'd ever patronized. Chefs the world over fought for residency for a season there, and the competition produced dishes that were of an unmatched level. Tony knew how to appeal to her better nature, and there was no beating this. 

“It's an impressive recreation. You even got the smell of the bakery right. The eScape technology is unbelievable.”

“Coming from you, there's no higher compliment.” The waiter walked up to them. He was the stereotype of a snotty French waiter, but Tony didn't seem to realize how much it looked like him. Tony flashed a smile at the program while Emma fought a smirk. “We'll each be having the filet. I'll have it medium rare with the fries and beet salad. And Emma…?”

“Medium, baked potato with butter and chive, and the beet salad sounds exquisite. I'll have a glass of your best Merlot as well.” The waiter nodded and walked away. “Even in VR you won't indulge?”

“You said it yourself, the tech is THAT good. It'll be too close, and better to avoid it.” He leaned forward into his elbows and shrugged. 

Her icy gaze turned into a glare. “Tony, why did you ask me here? You're a champion of bullshit, but I'd rather cut through it before the smell overpowers the croissant.”

He slid the remaining bread over to her. He chewed his lip for a moment. It was his most blatant tell, one that she was surprised the program allowed. Obviously he still hadn’t caught on to its existence.

“I heard congratulations is in order. Black King Frost. Has a nice ring to it.”

She rolled her eyes again, using the tic to take in her surroundings more. Tony had filled the space with patrons. Hell they might have even been actual beta testers. It only took her a couple moments to find what she was looking for. Though their avatars looked nothing like them, it wasn't difficult to identify Rogers, Danvers and T’Challa now that she knew to look.

“So Avengers business then?”

“Just a check in.” He shrugged and the food arrived. Her eyes remained locked on him. 

 

=X=

 

“The clock just started ticking Wolverine,” Stark said in her ear. 

Laura Kinney grunted as a knife plunged into her small intestine. She kicked the masked Hellfire goon backwards, then jumped and kicked him across the face. He dropped, and she pulled his weapon from her abdomen.

“It wasn't already?” she asked. She grimaced as the hole in her belly healed. “And I stopped using Dad’s name shortly after the Sinister ordeal.”

“She's made us,” T’Challa said. “We could lose her at any moment.”

“Is that Black Panther?!” Gabby asked. A Hellfire goon laid moaning at her feet, twin punctures in each of his shoulders. “Tell him I said hi and I love his work.” Laura rolled her eyes and smirked at her sister.

“We have one more level of subbasement to get through before we get to her,” she grunted. 

“Well hurry,” Stark replied. 

“Hey, if you want to come defuse the acid showers and liquid nitrogen baths, we can go faster,” she said. 

“My right ear still feels funny,” Gabby said, “but I can see my fingerprints are almost back!” One of the downed masked troopers nearest her started to reach for his sidearm. She leaned down and punched him across the face. 

“Keep her talking,” Laura said. “We got this.”

 

=X=

 

“Are you okay Stark?” she asked. “You could just invite his majesty and the Captains to join us instead of digitally whispering in their ears.” Her voice bordered between disgust and anger. It was insulting to assume she'd not figure it out, and he knew that. 

“Caught me.” Tony laughed and took a bite of his steak. 

“Tony limited our avatars to observers only though,” T’Challa said. He pulled a chair up to the table and sat. He smiled at Emma. “Even if he HAD invited us we wouldn’t be able to speak to you. Not that ever stopped me. Nice to see you your majesty.” This time, Tony rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, I didn't make you an admin for a reason,” he said, wagging his fork at T’Challa. The king smirked. 

“I wish I could say the same your majesty,” she said, ignoring Stark. She took a bite of salad, wiped her mouth, and locked eyes with the Wakandan King. “So what can I do for the leaders of the Avengers?”

“You just undertook an action that makes you one of the most powerful individuals on planet Earth,” he said. “Considering your actions just a short time ago against Attilan, it was in everyone's best interests to determine your intentions.”

“I was mid mental breakdown during the Terrigen crisis,” she said. She set down her fork, and leaned back. “Not that anyone truly cared about me or what  _ I _ was going through.”

“I'm sorry for your loss,” he said, thoughtfully. “Despite the events of the last year of his life, I truly believed Scott Summers was a good man.” For the first time since she’d entered the eScape, she desperately wished she had retained her telepathy in the VR landscape. T’Challa seemed sincere, but she wanted to know for a surety.

“He was,” she said. “I intend to honor his memory in my way. I don't think anyone could understand that. Not the two of you. Not Grey, or Ororo. The one person who may is…” She paused and leaned forward. “Laura Kinney.”

Tony choked, and began pounding on the table as he coughed to clear his throat. She wondered what effect it had on him in the real world. T’Challa smiled. 

“They're not in any danger are they?” he asked. She was impressed by how well he kept his composure. Years in his role would most assuredly require such.

“Nothing she can't handle, especially not with that precocious sister of hers at her side. She's going to be twice the hero her father was.”

“Is,” T’Challa said. Emma raised an eyebrow. “Oh you haven't heard?”

“I'm going to have to have a word with my people,” she said. 

 

=X=

 

“Girls, get out!” Stark cried. “She knows you're there!”

“No kidding!” Laura cried as she speared a man-sized Sentinel through the chest. She spun and kicked, taking the head off another with her foot claw. 

“We're so close!” Gabby exclaimed. She stabbed another Sentinel in the base of its skull. It responded with a powerful electrical shock across its skin which threw her off its back violently.

“Gabby!” Laura cried.

“Girls, listen to Stark,” Emma’s voice said from an intercom. “Bastion’s leftovers are programmed to do you no lasting harm, but I'd prefer no harm come to you at all. My obstacle course was intended for a full team of  _ adult  _ X-Men, not one of my students and her sister.”

“This isn't over,” Laura growled. The Sentinels stopped. She jabbed her claw into the nearest’s head and kicked it over. She strode to Gabby’s side, picked her up and turned slowly. 

“Oh my dear, I know.”

=X=

“Emma,” Tony said, “we're not going to have any pretense. We know what the Hellfire Club is, and having you at its head is better than Shaw, even if only marginally.”

She nodded. “I'm glad to hear that.”

T’Challa leaned forward, steepling his fingers. “That does not mean we are going to stop trying to eliminate it when your activities cross the line. Which will be frequently.”

“I'd expect nothing less. We need checks and balances.”

“I don't think that phrase means what you think it means,” Tony said. Emma met him with a glare.

T’Challa smiled. “And on a personal note, I'll give you the warning I gave Shaw last we talked. If the activities of the Hellfire Club are ever discovered in Wakanda, you and I will be meeting again. And I can assure you I will not be nearly this cordial.”

“I would expect nothing less, your majesty.” She stood. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have ACTUAL dinner plans. In Latveria. I mustn’t keep Victor waiting.” Her avatar dissolved into pixels before vanishing altogether. 

“Dammit,” Tony growled. 

“That could have gone better,” T’Challa said. “The girls?”

“Safe. In San Diego.”

“Well… we now know she can outsmart you.”

Tony stood. “Don't. Just don't.”

=x=

Emma smiled as she removed the headset. She looked up at Doom. 

“Sorry about that. Now let's get down to business.”


End file.
